Utah Jazz owner Ryan Smith announced Tuesday that the team is launching its own production company, SEG Media, that will broadcast games locally on KJZZ (Channel 14) along with a subscription-based streaming platform debuting later this fall. KJZZ had previously aired Jazz games from 1993-2009.
https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/1671190432418766848
“Our top priority has always been providing the best fan experience possible,” said Smith in a press release announcing the new venture.
“Our players work too hard and are too much fun to watch for us to be ok with any fan missing the action. No one has closer proximity to our team than we do, and SEG Media will help Jazz fans experience our organization in a way that has never been possible before, on more channels than ever before.”
The Jazz were one of several teams needing to find a new broadcast partner following the planned shutdown of AT&T SportsNet Rocky Mountain, a result of Warner Brothers’ upcoming departure from the RSN (regional sports network) market. The Suns launched a similar initiative months earlier, leaving Bally Sports, a subsidiary of Diamond Sports Group (which recently filed for bankruptcy), to broadcast games on local television while also offering a streaming alternative for fans located within greater Phoenix.
With the RSN bubble about to burst, this approach could take hold across the NBA with forward-thinking teams exploring streaming and other avenues to grow their broadcast footprint. Though expensive and requiring a level of tech-savvy that not every team will be equipped for, these experiments should provide valuable data, with Phoenix and Utah — in their role as token guinea pigs — laying the groundwork for a post-RSN world.
[NBA.com]
About Jesse Pantuosco
Jesse Pantuosco joined Awful Announcing as a contributing writer in May 2023. He’s also written for Audacy and NBC Sports. A graduate of Syracuse’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a master’s degree in creative writing from Fairfield University, Pantuosco has won three Fantasy Sports Writers Association Awards. He lives in West Hartford, Connecticut and never misses a Red Sox, Celtics or Patriots game.